A little late in the day, sorry (I had a little nap, that turned in to a few hours!). Here is a little Monday inspiration for you which popped up on my Facebook newsfeed today.
Today I played with Lego with my little nephew, Sam. We (I) built a garage, a house, a shop, a car wash and lots of cars!
It was such fun and Sam said he likes me 'today', ha!
He has such a fantastic imagination, and found lots of 'extras' in the Lego box such as oranges for the workers in the garage to snack on, lights and cameras for the roof of the garage and 'tools to fix the cars with.
I can certainly see what Mum always said about 'you can never be miserable when Sam is about', it's certainly true!
Sorry for my lack of posts - I have just come home from Egypt! I've had a very lovely holiday - much needed. I have been editing Telling Tales ready for publishing in paperback and catching up on some reading.
Pieces of Me had been on a break but I will be getting back to Celeste and her adventures very soon. A close friend is getting married tomorrow so I have come back home to a very lovely weekend.
I hope every one of you is well! Thanks for stopping by :)
So I got stuck in traffic on my way to Mum's tonight; what should have been a 5-6 minute drive took about 35 minutes!
But, being a creative person, while the traffic stood still my mind wondered and I noticed that the blossom is starting to bloom on the trees near where I work. Then a little further along I saw all the beautiful colours in the sky as the sun began to set.
Before I knew it the traffic was moving and I was peaceful and calm having spotted all the lovely things I wouldn't normally notice!
I will be going on holiday for a couple of weeks soon and I will (hopefully) get to spend some serious writing time whilst basking in glorious sunshine! As a little gift, I was thinking of publishing my short stories (past and future) on my website along with my flash fiction posts... what do you guys think??? I'm hoping it will make my writing my accessible to a wider audience (i.e. those without ebook readers) and hopefully increase sales for my full-length books and novellas in the long run! All feedback is much appreciated!
Today is my man-friend's 30th birthday, unfortunately it hasn't been the wonderful day we hoped months ago it might be. He's been working and I've been under the cloud of cancer and chemo for weeks.
However we did have fantastic news tonight - Mum has been cleared for the second round of chemo! This is a massive relief for us as a family and a big weight off our minds.
So I have no excuse now not to get my bum in to gear and carry on writing!
I haven't managed to post on the blog for about 11 days now. My Mum was taken poorly and has been in hospital so my life these last couple of weeks has been work, hospital, sleep, work, hospital, sleep... You get the picture!
It is very hard to see someone you love so much in so much pain and distress and not to be able to do anything to help them. It's exhausting to try and carry on as normal in the 9-5 hours and put on a brave face.
I don't feel brave and I don't feel helpful. I feel tired and on the brink of falling down 24/7. But my Mum is being brave and fighting and so I have to fight too; because if she can do it then I have no excuse.
The Visitor has now been re-born as The Entity and I have written the ending, I just have to carry on with the middle now and finish getting it proof-read ready for release at Christmas. Writing is a good escape for me and I know my Mum is my biggest fan and so if I can't do anything helpful I will do something which makes her proud.
Much love to all of the brave Mothers battling cancer out there, and love to your husbands, partners and children. I keep all of you in my thoughts.
I have been doing a lot of promotional work recently in the hope of being able to push book sales so that the donations to Macmillan Cancer Support will be enough to show my appreciation for the fantastic work this organisation do.
Also, due to personal circumstances I have been unable to focus on writing very much and so promotional work has been easier to fit in to a hectic few weeks. However I am back in the 'zone' now and have currently got five new novels/novellas in the pipeline along with a collection of short stories and flash fiction that I am putting together in order to be able to offer a paper print book to my readers.
The Visitor has been delayed, I am sorry. But I will be working hard on this so that it can be released in time for Christmas and it will also give my Mum something to read while she is unwell and at home recovering (plus it will stop her asking me about when I'm going to write some more every time I visit!).
In the meantime I am also doing some work on the website - you will see that it is now blue instead of pink! The 'about me' page has also been updated; I think I'm starting to get to grips with 'selling' myself and my work, ha!
There is also the ePress Kit page for professional use by the media/press/etc which will be updated as and when there is a new release from me.
There are TWO very good reasons to buy my book Danny Boy - ONE, it's a great story (even if I say so myself) with 5* reviews and TWO, 50% of the proceeds with go to a great organisation #Macmillan Cancer Support who help people like my Mum every day with their Cancer journey. So download your copy now and feel good in the knowledge you did something to help Macmillan help someone with cancer.
"This is such a beautiful story of great friendship without prejudice and unconditioned love. I had Goosebumps throughout the story and I was surprised when tears started pulling down my cheeks in the end. But you know what, I feel sorry for those people who didn’t open up to Danny and couldn’t see past his ‘condition’, because they missed out – not him."
** FROM 9.30PM GMT TONIGHT (24/09/2013) 50% OF PROCEEDS FOR DANNY BOY WILL BE DONATED TO MACMILLAN CANCER SUPPORT ** PLEASE HELP SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THIS FANTASTIC ORGANISATION **
This short story is a tale of friendship through the eyes of Catherine, who looks back on her childhood with her best friend, Danny.
Catherine becomes aware from a young age that she and Danny are different, that people look at them differently. It isn't until she is faced with the prejudice of her own mother that she comes to realise that not all people can see through the mask of disability in the way that she does.
Comments about Danny Boy:
5* "Beautiful and well written story about a true friendship! Brought tears to my eyes! Very refreshing and I look forward to more from this author!"
5* "Very glad I did (buy this), cracking little read (in a non schmaltzy way) that brings into perspective without preaching or talking down to the reader. Obviously very personal to the author - but no lesser a read for that."